[clank]

Congrats Max on new ride, curious if you have any opinions if 22model is doing any better on gas mileage? I notice its rated a tad better than my 20yr. X3m and if I recall you did some extensive reporting on gas mileage with your x3m in the past. Sure would be nice if it does with the price of gas out here in Cali. with my consideration of upgrading. thx

[Max Well]

Originally Posted by f82fanatic

Question: does music sound. Lot better when you play it from the usb stick vis-à-vis Spotify via Bluetooth? I'm assuming it does, but I want your input. I haven't tried it yet!

Definitely not an expert Audiophile, f82fanatic, but Satellite def didn't cut it for us, and since we had a number of albums laying around we converted them to FLAC based on some recs by gugin and johnnj over on the G01 Forum a few years ago. We have listened to streaming svc as well with Spotify and Apple Music but haven't researched yet whether fidelity is better through hard wire or simply bluetooth. Maybe those with more knowledge can comment whether you gain anything by hardwiring through the USB port, or is Bluetooth equal when using those services?

Originally Posted by clank

Congrats Max on new ride, curious if you have any opinions if 22 model is doing any better on gas mileage? I notice its rated a tad better than my 20yr. X3m and if I recall you did some extensive reporting on gas mileage with your x3m in the past. Sure would be nice if it does with the price of gas out here in Cali. with my consideration of upgrading. thx

Thanks for writing, clank. Hard to tell as my driving style now is strictly for break-in purposes with lots of variation in revs across the board up to 5,500. Interesting you mention that it's rated better as I honestly hadn't seen that info. My gut feeling is that it should be more aerodynamic based on the changes I see on the front and back, but only time will tell.

Put another 250 miles on her today as I work towards the 1,200 mile break-in svc.

[X3MCRN]

Originally Posted by Max Well

Yes - here are the center console approx dimensions for those not familiar with the G01/F97, and an image of my wife's iPhone 11 Pro Max which easily fits.

Thanks for the insight. I'll probably plug my thumb drive up in the front near the cup holders. That said, I use a Sandisk thumb drive that's very small. What are the best thumb drives available for our intent and purpose?

[Sottozero]

Thanks for this great write-up. Fantastic thread.

I am about to order a 2022 X3MC (I think). How long did your build process take? I've had two dealers tell me 8-12 weeks. Today, a smaller dealer told me 6-8...MONTHS. He then implied the other dealers were lying to me for quoting a shorter build time.

How was your experience, time-wise?

[X3MCRN]

Originally Posted by Sottozero

Thanks for this great write-up. Fantastic thread.

I am about to order a 2022 X3MC (I think). How long did your build process take? I've had two dealers tell me 8-12 weeks. Today, a smaller dealer told me 6-8...MONTHS. He then implied the other dealers were lying to me for quoting a shorter build time.

How was your experience, time-wise?

I put a down payment on an allocation in June. I got an allocation and ordered late July. Early August, the vehicle went from order received to production begins then back to order received for a few weeks with initial plan for a week 35 build. That was pushed back to week 38, then suddenly last week it went into production during week 35. Still in "production begins," but BMW states 9/10 as finish date, so I should start seeing the status changes soon. Excited! Maybe people getting in the game later have longer times as I was ordering towards the beginning of the launch.

[KodiakEd]

Originally Posted by Sottozero

Thanks for this great write-up. Fantastic thread.

I am about to order a 2022 X3MC (I think). How long did your build process take? I've had two dealers tell me 8-12 weeks. Today, a smaller dealer told me 6-8...MONTHS. He then implied the other dealers were lying to me for quoting a shorter build time.

How was your experience, time-wise?

Order place July 2, took delivery August 11 (would have been 4 days earlier had one of tires not been damaged by debris at the dealership lot). My local dealership had an allocation when the order was placed, so that sped up the process.

[sittingmongoose]

Originally Posted by Max Well

Thanks car_fan. Hoping to share different views in varied lighting to give a better idea how this color comes across in real life for those who haven't seen one yet. So much depends on the time of day, cloud cover, and angle of the shot that it's tough to capture in just a few images.

Also, thought I'd add - with ~ 450 miles seat time in wide-ranging speed and road conditions, it does come across as improved in its 'fit and finish'. My wife commented that the cabin experience seems better, whether it's through less exterior noise, the updated dash, or just tighter fitment of the various parts - hard to tell but that's the sense we get.

I've had a chance to try out the cruise control and lane keep functions, and it seems smoother than even my 2020 X3MC with the Mar 2020 ISTA-P update. Would be interesting if they could give a 'processing power' capability of these rolling computers, just like they do when you buy a new PC/laptop, as it seems less likely they would have changed out the cameras and sensors but perhaps refined the algorithms which are now more smoothly and quickly calculated with more robust processing ability. Just guessing here, but as rapid as that tech changes nowadays suspect they'd want to take advantage of the added functionality that speed and power can provide.

Do you have the active driver assistance professional package? They changed to active driving assistant pro for the 2022 model so it's a new system with at minimum a new camera layout. If you look at the cameras on the windshield, it's only 1 camera compared to the older 2 camera setup. There should also be a camera on the dash near the steering wheel that looks at the driver.

[Tim@codemybimmer]

Originally Posted by sittingmongoose

They changed to active driving assistant pro for the 2022 model so it's a new system with at minimum a new camera layout. If you look at the cameras on the windshield, it's only 1 camera compared to the older 2 camera setup. There should also be a camera on the dash near the steering wheel that looks at the driver.

It's actually 3 KAFAS cameras with 5AU - Driving Assistant Professional, while 1 KAFAS camera with 5AS - Driving Assistant, versus using 2 cameras for both 5AS and 5AT on the Pre LCI SP15 G chassis models.

And as you've noted, it adds the drivers attention camera in the instrument cluster with 5AU - Driving Assistant Professional

[wj100]

Those comp wheels look even better on the X3M than the design on the G80/82 IMO. So nice...

[Max Well]

Originally Posted by sittingmongoose

Do you have the active driver assistance professional package? They changed to active driving assistant pro for the 2022 model so it's a new system with at minimum a new camera layout. If you look at the cameras on the windshield, it's only 1 camera compared to the older 2 camera setup. There should also be a camera on the dash near the steering wheel that looks at the driver.

Originally Posted by Tim@codemybimmer

It's actually 3 KAFAS cameras with 5AU - Driving Assistant Professional, while 1 KAFAS camera with 5AS - Driving Assistant, versus using 2 cameras for both 5AS and 5AT on the Pre LCI SP15 G chassis models. And as you've noted, it adds the drivers attention camera in the instrument cluster with 5AU - Driving Assistant Professional

Thanks for sharing more info on the system.

We do have Driving Assistance Professional Package 'ZDY', which includes Extended Traffic Jam Assistant '5AR' and Active Driving Assistant Professional '5AU'. Have only used it for about 40 miles so far as I'm hitting a lot of the back roads to get RPM variations in, rather than using Interstate right now. But it clearly is a more capable system than what I have in my 2020 F97. I can definitely see using this on those long Hwy drives. And to be able to even briefly use your turn signal and then have it move you over into the next lane seems amazing to me (not used to this kind of tech).

It also handles many different curves at various speeds well without ping-ponging to keep between the lines. It must have a much improved processor as well to handle the additional input Tim mentions above. It still occ wanders to follow a turn off lane when you lose the right lane stripe, but I quickly intervene so I'm not sure if it knows to catch that or not, but suspect it would.

And note in the picture I'm not advocating setting cruise higher than posted speed limits, but at this point I was trying out the manually adjustable increase and decrease speed function on the steering wheel to slowly ease past the vehicle on the right.

[forza1976]

Originally Posted by Max Well

My wife’s 2022 LCI X3MC ZDM

Looks real nice Max!

[audioi]

I agree that the taillights are taking some time for me to get use to. It was cheaper to keep the pano roof so I have it. The BG color is growing on me but I would have liked it better with less battleship blue. None the less everyone says they like it.

[TX3M]

Nice write up as always Max. The wheels really make the car. They did a better job on the front and rear IMO than they did on the non-M versions. In particular, I like that they integrated the rear reflectors in the area where the fake rear vents now reside on the non-M versions. Congrats on the new ride and enjoy!

[Sublime00]

Everything looks good but those halo sword taillights.

[Quadruple VANOS]

Does the LCI have the same ride quality? I hear the pre-LCI rides harshly.

[J-RO]

Originally Posted by JJ 911SC

That is the problem I'm facing... Unless I see one in person BG is out.

I would have love Glacier Silver (NLA) so I will probably stick with my present colour, Dark Graphite.

Unless you see ANY color in person it should be out.

[AG23]

So sick, enjoy!

[evodz]

Originally Posted by Max Well

Although I don’t want to appear greedy, now if BMWNA would allow roof rail delete option with full painted roof and side windshield trim like the F96, I’d be tempted to trade mine in. And if they offered CFRP aero roof along with that, sign me up for an allocation…

Let me ask for some wider fenders too 😩

[JustChris]

Beautiful X congrats

[Max Well]

Originally Posted by Sublime00

Everything looks good but those halo sword taillights.

Yeah, it seems this will be the main talking point on the LCI's exterior design changes. They must have their reasons for going in that direction. I'm still partial to my 2020's taillight aesthetic, but it clearly didn't stop us from trading in my wife's to get one without a pano.

Originally Posted by Quadruple VANOS

Does the LCI have the same ride quality? I hear the pre-LCI rides harshly.

The ride quality issue has been discussed over and over... A number of us haven't had significant issues with the pre-LCI, but some have. After the Mar '20 ISTA-P update there was a noticeable improvement (to us) in the ride and this carries it forward. We only have about 750 miles in the LCI so over time it usually softens, but it rides fine for us now. This is definitely something one has to test for themselves and not just read what others think to skew their view.

[bmwsalepro]

In full agreement, but I went from a 2020 X3M non-comp to a 2021 X3M Comp so the difference is drastic. Won't bore you with all the improvements but the biggest eye opener is that in exactly the same driving my gas mileage went up almost 3 mpg

[CosmosMpower]

I must say this is the first time I've seen someone replace a 1 year old car to get rid of a moonroof....